PORTLAND, Ore.—Rie Newman, owner of the Body Bistro, a skin and body salon in north Portland, felt a deep connection to the inner meaning rooted in Shen Yun.

“That we’re all one,” she said. “There has got to be love. ... The hope is that we can get past the destruction and get to the paradise.”

Ms. Newman was in attendance for New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts at Portland’s Keller Auditorium on Jan. 19.

“Amazing,” she said, excited with her newly gained understanding of many traditional Chinese stories. “So being able to see the dance, and the costumes, and the representations, was gorgeous.”

Although Shen Yun, a non-profit organization, travels the globe presenting the wonders of China’s ancient culture to millions each year, it cannot be seen in China today, where traditional culture has been nearly destroyed.

Ms. Newman embraced Shen Yun’s urgency of “needing to get the story out that Chinese are no longer able to practice their own religions—happily and in peace—that they are persecuted in their own country.”

Further describing the performance’s portrayal of spirituality as a “great upwelling,” she said that the type of spirit embodied by Shen Yun is one “that has been building and is going to continue to grow over.”

“I see us all as one,” she added. “So, being able to connect to every person that we all are sharing a great deal and a great time of pain, struggling, and suffering,” makes Shen Yun’s mission all the more important.

Reporting by Echo Liu and Michael Fitzgerald.

New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts has four touring companies that perform simultaneously around the world. For more information, visit Shen Yun Performing Arts.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time. We have proudly covered audience reactions since Shen Yun’s inception in 2006.